


Texting A Sly Cat

by Zenay_Sarah



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aromantic Tsukishima Kei, Bisexual Yamaguchi Tadashi, Captain Yamaguchi Tadashi, Coming Out, Flirting, Friendship, Gay Kuroo Tetsurou, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Texting, Third Year Yamaguchi Tadashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28526475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zenay_Sarah/pseuds/Zenay_Sarah
Summary: Yama: Hey! Thanks again for last night, I had really much fun. Maybe we can see each other again hottie~What started as a prank on a random telephone number develops into something Yamaguchi would have never thought of. What will he do when he finds out that the stranger he befriended is his first male crush - a certain sly cat from Nekoma?
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Yamaguchi Tadashi & Karasuno Volleyball Club
Comments: 11
Kudos: 48





	1. How to befriend a cat

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first fanfiction!
> 
> Only a few words before, English is not my native tongue, so please forgive any mistakes. Inspirations for this fic come in the end :)  
> Oh, and the italic written part means that the characters actually speak English - I tried to create a different level for both of them (Tsukki being better, but both with a hopefully Japanese sounding accent and a few mistakes?)

  
**Yama** : Hey! Thanks again for last night, I had really much fun. Maybe we can see each other again hottie~

 **Unknown** : Oh, that's good to hear! But you need to help my memory a little, I was too drunk, what was your name again? Or should I just call you my puppy~

 **Yama** : Puppy is fine~ I don't really want to tell my name, we don't know each other, you've just been pranked

 **Unknown** : oh, I could tell. I didn't drink anything and didn't meet anyone last night. So little puppy, how did you get my number?

 **Yama** : A friend told me some random numbers, it was rather luck that it was an actual number

 **Unknown** : Yes it was! When you follow the pattern of a typical phone number, the probability of typing an actual number is still lower than 7%! 

**Yama** : and the chance of writing a nerd that knows that kind of stuff is even smaller :p 

**Unknown** : and writing someone as awesome and kind as myself is even less probable~ 

**Unknown** : your lucky day my little puppy~ 

**Yama** : I hope so - the thought of writing someone that's way older than me would be kinda gross. 

**Unknown** : How old are you? I'm 19 

**Yama** : oh that fits than. I'm 17 

**Unknown** : I like you. You wanna continue texting? 

**Yama** : Sure, why not. 

**Unknown** : okay, tell me about urself. 3rd year high school? Where are you from? 

**Yama** : Yes. And I'm from Miyagi. Where are you from? 

**Unknown** : From Tokyo~ I'm attending college. Are you a bloke? You kinda sound like one. 

**Yama** : Yeah I am. You too? 

**Unknown** : Yessss 

Yamaguchi read the conversation over and over again. He could not believe that someone actually answered. Nishinoya came up with the idea when he visited his old volleyball club and somehow everyone thought that their new captain was the best choice to fulfil the prank. Actually, that stranger seemed a bit charming, they at least had the same humour. And he was really glad that it was not someone who went to the police or something.  
“You actually still text him?”, Tsukki asked, looking over Tadashi’s shoulder on his phone screen.  
“He seems nice”, Tadashi answered.  
“Hm.” He knew that this meant something like ‘do what you like but be careful.’ He knew his childhood friend good enough, he could interpret almost all of his different hm’s. And there where a lot more than one might think.  
The texts started a few hours ago, the stranger did take some time to answer and since Tadashi had to continue with their training after Noya-san’s interruption, he took about an hour himself to see the answer. Tsukki and Tadashi often studied together, so he was at the Tsukishima house at the moment. And he had to admit, he did not study as much as he should. It was kind of exciting to text a stranger.  
That moment he noticed that he had no idea what their name was. So, he did the most natural thing – interrupted his studying further to write his newest contact. 

**Yama** : So, what should I call you? 

**Unknown** : Call me Kitty ;) 

**Yama** : That sounds way cuter than you seem to be. 

**Unknown** : are you calling me not cute? :oo 

**Unknown** : Soo, little puppy, do you have hobbies? 

**Yama** : Yeah, I play volleyball! 

**Unknown** : That's great! I played volleyball as well in high school. Now I found my own little team at college, but we are not this good. 

**Yama** : For which school did you play? If I may ask. 

**Unknown** : One in Tokyo. I'd rather not say which one? Maybe when you'll call me~ 

**Yama** : Call you? No thanks :) Therefore I want to know a name first. 

**Unknown** : I told you, call me kitten~ 

**Yama** : No way, nerd.~

 **Yama** : We actually played against several high schools from Tokyo since my first year - you should have been a third year then. Maybe we know each other.

 **Unknown** : Are you that curious about me? Then call *smirk* 

**Yama** : Did you actually write smirk instead of sending a smiley?

 **Unknown** : Sorry, old habit from before line (A/N: Japanese messenger like WhatsApp/Insta), and too lazy to search for the right one~ 

**Yama** : Oh, a lazy nerd Unknown: No, a lazy kitten~ 

“Tadashi, are you done with maths already?”  
“Ah, yeah, want to compare?” Tadashi took one quick glance over to his phone before deciding against sending another message to the nerd and came over to Tsukki.  
Time flew by, especially when Tsukki gave Tadashi an extra tutoring lesson in English for their test in two weeks. After a while he received a call from his mom, remembering him that he was late for dinner, so he hurried back home. With all that, he only checked his messages when he laid down in his bed later that night. 

**Unknown** : Look here! 

**Unknown** : *sends cat meme* 

**Unknown** : That kitten basically looks like my best friend. 

Before answering, Tadashi made sure to save the number under the first thing that came to his mind – “ “cat nerd”. 

**Yama** : The colour of its fur reminds me of pudding. 

**Cat Nerd** : Exactly! 

**Cat Nerd** : Can I please show him this when he denies his nickname (pudding head) again? 

**Yama** : Woah, they really look that much alike? But he probably won’t admit it since I have no idea what he looks like. 

**Cat Nerd** : Nah, even he admitted that the cat looks like him. 

**Yama** : Then go ahead, I guess. 

**Yama** : How good are you in English? 

**Cat Nerd** : I’m more into science, but I need English quite a lot since entering college. 

**Cat Nerd** : Does my cute little puppy want to have some help from his senpai?~ 

**Yama** : I actually considered asking you something before, but nah~

 **Yama** : I don’t see any “senpai” of mine anywhere~ 

**Cat Nerd** : Ouch, that hurt, little puppy :oo 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Cat Nerd** : Help! Too many white, old, straight men in one place!

Tadashi was just on his way home after volleyball practice. Tsukki had to meet up with his brother in a café, so it was one of the rare occasions that he walked home alone. Maybe that was good, since he let out a snort to this message, and the “Hm” following it would have probably been a curious one that had to be answered when he did not want his best friend to get grumpy. Tadashi never really told Tsukki about his sexuality and that he found out quite a bit about the LGBTQ+ community on the internet and maybe picked up some new kind of humour there – one that he was too afraid of before and that he had to explain to Tsukki. This explaining would not go without him admitting his internet history and that he found out about his bisexuality with a slight preference for boys. It is not like Tsukki would react in a bad way, but it never came up and now he would have to explain why he never said something for such a long time. And admit his first crush. Two years ago, he discovered that he looked a bit too much forward to all the trainings camps and matches against Nekoma, since he looked forward to seeing their captain again. That time, he was way too shy to even talk to him. And the panic following the realization of him not being straight was not helpful. 

**Yama** : Then better get out of there. 

**Cat Nerd** : Nah, it’s a family dinner. 

**Yama** : Ouch. Maybe escape right after desert? 

**Cat Nerd** : Promised my parents to not do that again. 

**Cat Nerd** : My uncle is trying to set me up with a girl again. *sigh* 

**Yama** : I will never get used to you not using smileys. 

**Yama** : So no interest in girls? 

**Cat Nerd** : Nope, I’m as gay as one can be~ 

**Cat Nerd** : What about you? 

**Yama** : Bisexual 

**Yama** : Are you… out in your family? 

**Cat Nerd** : Yep, some people still don’t understand though. 

Tadashi sighed. Over the last two weeks of texting, he had gotten the impression of the sly cat – that’s how Tadashi decided to call his new friend – being queer. He was actually relieved to not be wrong on this one. Maybe he could ask him for a few tips? After all, they had gotten quite close over countless messages and cat memes. 

**Yama** : How… did you manage that? 

**Cat Nerd** : Oh, you’re completely in the closet? 

**Yama** : No, I’ve told my parents and if someone asks (which most of the people don’t do), I answer truthfully. But I’m not so good at bringing these things up myself, I don’t want it to be a big deal. But I’ve never told my best friend, and my volleyball club. 

**Cat Nerd** : Maybe tell them when someone talks about a related topic? 

**Yama** : Didn’t happen over the last two years. 

**Cat Nerd** : Maybe it will. Or just start with a topic closely related, maybe about a person where people normally think “ah okay, that person’s gay” or something. Then you see their reactions and say “hey, me too” 

**Yama** : Actually a considerable idea, sly cat. 

**Yama** : And about your uncle, maybe make a person up you could be crushing on and tell him everything about them – then he should see that you’re really not interested 

**Cat Nerd** : Oh, ever tried that idea yourself? 

**Yama** : Yes, with my aunt. I just told her all about my first boy-crush – without the part that I never actually spoke to him. 

**Cat Nerd** : Poor puppy~ tell her about me then next time! 

**Yama** : All about your shining hair and sparkling eyes without even knowing how you look like? 

**Cat Nerd** : You know, you just have to call~ 

**Yama** : You wish. 

**Cat Nerd** : Okay, but help me make someone up then. He has to be a volleyball player! 

**Yama** : How about his looks, anything special? 

**Cat Nerd** : Maybe some rare feature. 

**Cat Nerd** : I know! Freckles! I love freckles! 

**Yama** : Wow, you don’t hear that often. 

**Yama** : Then, brown hair, like a hot chocolate, with deep brown eyes? 

**Cat Nerd** : That’s your type? 

**Yama** : More like black hair with golden eyes, but deep eyes always sounds lovey-dovey and I want a hot chocolate 

**Cat Nerd** : If that’s your type, you should consider that video call again~ 

**Yama** : Where did you meet your “crush”? At training, with a sporty, sweaty shirt on, displaying his muscles or in the library, where he sat at a window, so peaceful that just underlined his beautifulness? 

**Cat Nerd** : Are you thirsty or a romantic? I’m kinda getting mixed vibes here~ 

**Yama** : That are the only two places you go – you either study or play volleyball when you’re not at pudding head’s house 

**Cat Nerd** : Kinda got a point there 

**Yama** : Sorry, I just got home and need to study for my English test now. Tell me how it goes with your uncle and the crush story! See you later~ 

**Cat Nerd** : Will do, see you~ 

About one and a half hours later the doorbell rang and a confused looking Tsukki came in to pace a bit in Tadashi’s room, settling after a few minutes on the bed and looking like his head is going to explode.  
“Okay, what happened with your brother?”, asked Tadashi. It was quite obvious that Akiteru was involved. No one else could get that reaction out of him and he was still wearing his school uniform, a sign that he had not been home.  
“He… has a partner and now I will have to hear a lot more from that human tangerine.”  
“Wait, what does Shoyou has to do with who Akiteru is dating?”  
“You see… He… Argh, how do I not out him?” Tadashi let out a small chuckle.  
“I think you just did.” But that meant Tsukki was so worked up for his brother dating a guy? How would he react to Tadashi’s sexuality then?  
“Oh, okay, that makes things easier.” Tsukki took a deep breath. “Akiteru dates the little giant that Hinata idolizes. I mean, there are so many gay men out there, but he has to choose the one that will cause me to get a stalker?”  
“Wait, you are not upset that he is queer?” Tadashi tried to catch up while sorting out the storm building in his head.  
“Of course not. He told me a few years ago that he is gay.”  
“That’s… great!” Tadashi let out a relieved sigh.  
“You actually worried I would be homophobic?”  
“Not really…” While Tadashi still tried to find the right words, because he actually considered that a moment where he had to come out, Tsukki beat him to it.  
“You really thought, I would have close contact to my gay brother, quite a few queer volleydorks and to my gay best friend if I were homophobic?”  
“W-wait. Best friend? D-do you mean me?” This time, Tsukki let out a snort.  
“Who else? We never really talked about it, but after your crush on that Kuroo it was fairly easy to figure out that you have a thing for guys.”  
“You knew?! Fuck, I thought nobody noticed.”  
“I know you too good for that.”  
“But you did not guess quite right. I am bisexual.”  
“Ah, so you really did have a thing for Yachi then in second year.”  
“I guess? Why do you know this?”  
“Like I said, I know you, Tadashi. Oh, and now that we are actually talking about this topic, I am aromantic. And now, that that is over, please back to my Hinata-stalker problem?”  
Tadashi laughed. Not only snickering, he laughed the whole tension off of him, this situation was too ridiculous. 

**Yama** : He knew all along! 

**Cat Nerd** : Your best friend? 

**Cat Nerd** : Oh, and about that crush-tip, thanks a lot! I had my peace for the last hour~ 

The next morning on the way to their school, Tsukki and Tadashi tried a new method and wanted to only discuss in English before their test. Tsukki also hoped he would get to discuss his Hinata-stalker problem more without their ace actually knowing what they were talking about.  
_“Can we go over a difference between the conservative again?”_ asked Tadashi. They had to describe the differences between the US and the UK in their political systems.  
_“In the US conservative is more extreme, I think.”_ answered Tsukki.  
_“Hm, do you know examples to describe?”_  
_“They did not give some.”_  
This caused Tadashi to panic a bit. What if they needed to find some? Where could he get some examples now?  
That moment, he received a text message. 

**Cat Nerd** : _Good luck on your exam~_

That’s it! The nerd would definitely know the answer to his question! 

**Yama** : SOS! What are the differences of the meaning of conservative regarding politics in the US and UK? 

Tadashi saw him typing an answer, but he seemed to get interrupted. 

“Hey Kuroo, as annoying as it is, can I ask you a question?” Tadashi heard Tsukki talking on his phone. The name Kuroo still caused his heart to skip a little beat. But he did not want to interrupt their privacy. So Tadashi tried to not overhear the conversation about the exact same question he had asked the nerd before. Instead, his thoughts lingered on how the former Nekoma captain might look like, if he still plays volleyball or works out otherwise, what college he attended, if his golden eyes were still that mesmerizing and his hair still looked ridiculous but sexy all at once. He knew quite a lot about the older one thanks to Tsukki’s annoyed rants back in first year. If Tsukki did that on purpose? Since he knew of his crush?  
His thoughts were once again interrupted by a message from the sly cat with a perfect answer to the question. Without a word he showed that to his best friend, who was still on the phone. But the reaction of the taller male was a bit strange. His eyes widened a bit, as if in shock, and he needed a second longer to answer Kuroo on the phone.  
“You’re right”, he said. Tadashi was not sure if that was an answer to the text he had just seen or directed to his call.  
“Okay, see you on the weekend. Bye.”  
But Tsukki stayed silent afterwards. Tadashi filled in a few comments on the way, in the best English he could manage, with only receiving short answers. What did he talk about with Kuroo that he was so irritated now?

The test went by better than expected. He made immediately sure to thank Tsukki for all his tutoring sessions and the nerd for his answer earlier, since that was the question of the discussion part.  
“Tadashi, do you want to join me and Kuroo this weekend when going to a café?” Tsukki asked on their way home after practice.  
“Eh? Ehm, sure, I guess. If you want me to.”  
“Else I would not have invited you.”  
“Sorry, Tsukki!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Cat Nerd** : Last chance, call me~ I would if I were you~

Tadashi just entered his room after a shower and put on his pants, let his towel hang loosely around his neck. The sly cat begged quite a lot more for a call lately. He pressed the button to close the app, not noticing he came on the videocall button first, starting a call in the background, before checking where the café was located again.  
When he heard the voice coming out of his phone – the nerd accepted the call before the first tone was playing on Tadashi’s side, but stayed quiet for a moment longer – Tadashi almost dropped his phone in shock.  
“Finally decided to call, Freckles-kun?”  
He knew that voice from somewhere. But it took a few taps on his phone to get to the call. Then, he really dropped his phone, seeing who it was on the other line.  
“Hey, Yamaguchi, everything alright?”, Kuroo asked in shock. He even knew who he was! Tadashi wanted to crawl under his blanket and just shut the whole world out. After a few moments where he could not move, he found himself in the exact position he imagined a few seconds before. But Kuroo’s voice was still hearable.  
“Hey, what happened? Please answer me! Are you alright?”  
He actually sounded worried. Then, another voice joined him.  
“Kuroo? What are you doing there? We have to go.” It was Tsukki. Right, he was about to go to the café with the two older males. That was the whole reason he stood in front of his wardrobe so long before deciding on a good outfit before, wanting to look nice but not overdressed. But how could he meet up with the other two now?  
“Yamaguchi, he…” Kuroo began and he could hear a bit of commotion before the call ended. What had just happened? Was that a dream?  
It turned out to be the truth when he could hear the doorbell ring and his mother greeting Tsukki. Then, his door was opened, and the two voices were with him in his room. He was still under the blanket, trying to shut the truth out.  
“Tadashi, hey. What are you doing here?” Tsukki asked in a soft tone. A weight was sitting down next to him and a hand seemed to pet his back carefully through the blanket.  
“Hey, sorry for shocking you that much.” Tadashi shivered a bit when he noticed how near his voice was. Was that Kuroo’s hand that patted his back? “I would have never thought, you’d react like this. Are you disappointed that it’s me?”  
That let Tadashi to lift the blanket a bit so that his head became visible.  
“What? Me? A-aren’t you disappointed?”  
When he caught side of Kuroo, who was kneeling in front of the bed, and it really was his hand on Tadashi’s back, his heart skipped a beat again. Kuroo became more mature over the last two years, but his eyes where still the same gold and his hair still ridiculous and sexy at the same time.  
“Why would I be? I could not imagine any other person I’d prefer over you.”  
That caused Tadashi to become a bright shade of red and trying to get the blanket back over his head, but Kuroo’s other hand stopped him. They exchanged so many flirty texts, he even told the sly cat of his sexuality before he even told Tsukki. They had spoken about so many topics, from the light flirts to deep late-night conversations. And now the cat turned out to be his gay-awakening crush?  
“Hey, that does not look very comfortable. What do you say about getting out of your bed and we talk about it over a hot chai latte?”  
Surely, Kuroo knew his favourite drink after he received a daily update about Tadashi’s attempt at drawing coffee art on a chai latte. Slowly, he realized just how much the older male knew by now. And shortly after considering the offer, he noticed that he was still half-naked and that there was no way he could stand up without embarrassing himself further.  
“Should I wait outside?” Kuroo offered after seeing the new panic rise in the small boy. He nodded shyly and Kuroo went in front of the door. Then, Tadashi sat up and faced Tsukki.  
“Kind of thought you would have that reaction. Sorry that I did not tell you before.”  
Tadashi stared at his best friend. Tsukki knew? How?  
“Wait, what?”  
“Remember the English exam? We asked the same person the same question at the same time.”  
“Oh.”  
“And he read his answer out loud when he sent it to you, and you showed me that exact answer.”  
“Oh.”  
“And he asked me to not tell you yet, but to surprise you maybe on this weekend.”  
“Oh.”  
Tadashi’s head was empty. He could not process that much information. It made sense, though. But his best friend knew how flustered he would become, and how he liked having a small heads up in situations like these. Why had he not at least placed some hints?  
“How is that even possible? Did Noya-san know this outcome?”  
“I don’t think so. According to Kuroo, the only ones with his number are Daichi and me – and none of us have given it to Noya.” After a short break he continued. “Do you want to talk a bit with Kuroo?”  
No, he did not. Definitely not. But he knew that he had to. And better talking that out now than later.  
“Oh, one thing so that you don’t have to be the only embarrassed one. When Kuroo found out during the call, he described you as ‘the cute pinch server’.”  
“And how should that be not embarrassing for me, but for him?” Tadashi groaned.  
“Firstly, he remembered you. Secondly, he thinks you are cute. Thirdly, he admitted to you that he really likes freckles and I have a really good source confirming that this started in our training camp two years ago.”  
Tsukki left the room. That really did not help at all. Now he was probably even more flustered and awkward. But he had not enough time to think about all this new information since Kuroo entered the room.  
“Hey again.”  
“Hey.”  
“Are you a bit better now?”  
“I think so.”  
“May I have a seat?”  
“Ah sure.” Kuroo sat down at the same spot Tsukki had occupied before. Only with him, it seemed to be so much closer.  
“How long did you know who I was?” Tadashi asked.  
“Since you texted me before your English test.”  
“And why did you not tell me?” Tadashi was not sure if the question was somehow inappropriate, but that was the thing that did not make sense at all to him.  
“I don’t know. I wanted to tell you today. Since the weekend had already been planned before and I would have a reason to see you again. And Tsukki said you might freak out and it might be better to tell you in person.”  
“So, it was not because you were disappointed?”  
“I already told you, why should I be that? I was… No, I am really glad that it is you, Freckles.”  
“I guess it will take some time to get used to that. It was kind of easier to open up with some things with the reassurance that I would never meet the other person.”  
“I get what you mean. But on the other hand, I am kind of glad to know you so well now. Even if it feels a bit like cheating.”  
“Oh, that won’t be a problem. The shyness that you skipped before is coming now therefore.”  
“Let’s see what we can do about that. But first, would you still like to join us at the café?”  
“Gladly.”  
Kuroo stood up at that and made his way to the door. “But you might consider wearing a shirt for that. Even though it is a nice sight.”  
Tadashi looked down in shock. He had not even noticed that he did not put on a shirt yet. Could the day get any more embarrassing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for this fic ages ago, when I read a texting fic between Kuroo and Yamaguchi during their training camp (Flirting strangers on ff.net, if anyone is interested) and got inspired by rubysilk98's wonderful KuroYama story Will I Be Enough to dive back into this idea and finally post this story here. This pairing is really fun to explore, depending on the feedback I might write a second chapter where they get to know each other better and a final one to explore their new relationship further. Please let me know if you are interested and I'm always open for more ideas/topics you might want to read about ^.^
> 
> With this said, have a wonderful start in 2021 - without any further comment on a specific situation we all know about, since I'm way too good at jinxing things...


	2. How to tame a cat - 1

  
Tadashi felt rather weird, sitting beside his best friend and Kuroo. Normally, Kuroo would talk to Tsukki and at least try to annoy him, Tsukki would act annoyed but secretly enjoy the others company and Tadashi would be at the next table with Shoyou, Kageyama and Yachi-chan and secretly glance over to the other two boys. Now, Kuroo’s comments were directed at him. He felt like the other one held back a bit, so that Tadashi would not get any more uncomfortable, but it was more than Tadashi ever imagined. And on top of that, Kuroo not only called him freckles, but sometimes still his puppy. And hearing that was definitely worse than reading the nickname over text. From a not-anymore stranger. “So, Tsukki, was Freckles-kun always so sarcastic under his shy shell or is that your fault?”  
“I think he would have never been able to put up with me for that long if he would be completely innocent from the start.”  
“Tsukki!” The blond boy smiled almost innocently at Tadashi. He knew the different Tsukki’s from the smaller one as well as Tadashi knew the blonds hm’s. And this one meant “be careful what you say!” in an embarrassing yet warning way. As if he would say “I could still embarrass you with that story of your dinosaur plushie if you continue”.  
“Do you guys have your own language or something? I have the feeling I miss half of the conversation.” Kuroo looked curious between the two younger boys.  
“Something like that”, answered Tsukki, while Tadashi smiled shyly in the direction of Kuroo. “So, how is university so far?”  
“You know, I kind of miss chemistry. That definitely was my favourite subject back in school.”  
“What are you studying?” Kuroo looked surprised for a second. Probably because that was the first thing Tadashi said to him since they got here. Then he smirked, almost as if he tried to flirt. But that was probably only his imagination. That was most definitely only the relieve that Tadashi was not so awkward that he could not speak to the black haired for the whole time they would be here.  
“Wait, you texted and flirted so much without ever talking about basic stuff like that?” Tsukki looked disbelievingly between his two friends.  
“Ah, never really crossed my mind”, Kuroo answered at the same time as Tadashi said, “It was a bit weird to share too personal things.”  
“Seems like you have a lot to catch on before you start snogging each other.”  
“Tsukki!”  
“Don’t worry, Tsukki-kun. I plan on getting to know this cute little guy a lot better now.”  
Tadashi could feel his cheeks burning, having the colour of tomatoes. _Not quite sure if I still want to get to know you that much anymore._  
“Have I really earned my first snarky remark from you with this?” Kuroo looked almost proud. Oh no, did Tadashi say that out loud?  
“That really is cheating, I needed a month before he opened up to me more.”  
“Is my sweet little kouhai jealous of me? You don’t need to pout. Once in a while I can get a little reward for being such a nice person, don’t you think?”  
Tadashi snickered at that. One time, then again. After a few minutes he was holding on the table between laughter. He could not help it. This comment was too much for him. Then the whole nervousness and Kuroo’s priceless dumbstruck face. The other two joined in with their own laughing. Even if they did not have to hold onto the table. Tadashi was grateful when he felt Tsukki’s hand on his arm to steady him, otherwise he would probably lay on the floor by now.  
“I think that is exactly the reason why I believed you were dating for two years straight.” Kuroo motioned to that contact after the trio had calmed down.  
“Really? We look like that?” Even if the now first and second years had asked him as well if there was something going on between the two of them, Tadashi never thought other teams might think the same.  
“I mean, you are always together, only you are allowed to call Tsukishima Tsukki – even if he does not complain about that nickname so much anymore – and I did not know about his sexual orientation. You both seemed pretty gay to me.”  
“Kenma-san was always better at reading people. And our friendship is way more than any relationship could ever be.” That was an interesting thing to happen in their second year – Tsukki and Kenma had become quite close, even if Tadashi had no idea how these two managed that. He guessed they liked to talk about how much Kuroo annoyed them, maybe they were even close enough to admit how much they liked him either. Kenma even got Tsukki to play some computer games and Tsukki helped Kenma set up his YouTube channel. Long story short, this friendship was unexplainable.  
“Aww, Tsukki’s soft side is showing!”  
“Don’t call me that.”  
“Tsukki! Tsukki! Tsukki!”  
“Shut up, rooster head.”  
“Never.”  
“Back to our topic before. You two should get to know each other better.”  
“Ah, yes. Change of topic because you are afraid of being forced to admit that you don’t dislike me calling you by your nickname as much as you’d like everyone to believe.”  
“Tadashi is the only one who is allowed to use my nickname.”  
“But my puppy will surely allow me to use it as well.” Kuroo gave him that unsettling smile again.  
“Eh, sorry, I’m on Tsukki’s side here.”  
“Ouch, that hurt, my little puppy. Not even if I say pretty please?” He looked with big puppy eyes at Tadashi. Maybe he was not that much of a cat after all.  
“I could consider it if you stop with the puppy.”  
“You know I’d choose your cute nickname over Tsukki’s.” Maybe, just maybe, Tadashi was getting used to that name slowly. His cheeks felt as if they contained a normal colour. Some progress at least.  
“Don’t call me that. And please, I want to enjoy my cake without that much flirting in front of me.” Tsukki eyed both of them. Tadashi only send him a disbelieving look, saying ‘I’m clearly not doing anything.”, which the taller one just ignored.  
“There, a silent conversation again. Are you always like this?”  
Tadashi send his best friend a questioning look, _‘Are we?’_  
“Hm.” With that slight smile on his lips, it had to mean something along _‘I guess.’_  
Kuroo watched them tease him for a bit, trying and failing to follow their silent conversation, until he said, “Really, I can’t believe you two! I’m still here, you know?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Cat Nerd** : Sooo, Freckles-kun. I’ll stay in Miyagi till Friday. Since you’re the captain now, I wanted to give you a little heads up – I’ll join your practice~

 **Yama** : What happened to the asking for permission part?

 **Cat Nerd** : Nah, skipped that

 **Yama** : Oh really, never would’ve guessed

 **Cat Nerd** : Hey, you’ll get to see me more~ Even though I’d be open for meeting you alone as well~~~

 **Yama** : And see me muttering awkwardly for the whole time?

 **Cat Nerd** : I’d know a better use for that pretty mouth of yours~

 **Cat Nerd** : Eating sloppy French fries!

 **Yama** : Now you’ve got me actually considering

 **Yama** : On you?

 **Cat Nerd** : Sure, everything for my little puppy~

Tadashi could not believe that Kuroo flirted even more now. And he would embarrass him in front of the whole team. Maybe more like he would embarrass himself and it would be Kuroo’s fault.  
“Tadashi, why does your face become red out of nowhere?” Shoyou’s voice startled the green haired a bit. Was he really blushing over a text?  
“Ah, nothing. Just got informed about a surprise visitor in practice next week.”  
It was Sunday, and like every Sunday, Shoyou, Kageyama and Yachi-chan were at his house to study. Surprisingly, the two volleydorks got their grades this last year quite high since they heard that this would help them for their volleyball carriers in the future. They were still not the best in class, but finally on average grades.  
“Really? Who is it? An amazing spiker? The ace of Shiratorizawa? Oh, maybe a libero that could help me with receives?” Shoyou’s mood changed from his normal half-depressed study mood to super excited within a blink of an eye. Well, that was expectable. Why did Tadashi even tell them?  
Kageyama looked up with that sparkle in his eyes as well. “A setter.” Only that Kageyama did not ask questions, he made it sound like a statement.  
“Hey, it is still a surprise.” But the two continued staring at Tadashi. “Well, if you must know, finish the test with at least 90%, then I’ll tell you.”  
It worked. They started their typical competition about it while Tadashi exchanged worried glances with Yachi-chan. She motioned to the exit, and Tadashi would really like to talk to her in the kitchen about this whole thing, but he was surrounded and felt chained to his seat. In the most literal sense of the word. Shoyou and Kageyama had both placed their legs around each of Tadashi’s to stop him from standing up. So, he just took out his phone.

 **Yama** : You remember Kuroo?

 **Yachi-chan** : The former Nekoma captain? You had a crush on him, didn’t you?

 **Yama** : Why am I not surprised that you know that. He is the guy I’ve been texting with.

 **Yachi-chan** : Wait, the number Nishinoya-san gave you?

 **Yama** : Yeah. And he’s at Tsukki’s this whole week.

 **Yachi-chan** : Ah, so he’s coming tomorrow?

 **Yama** : I’m afraid so.

 **Yachi-chan** : That’s great!

 **Yachi-chan** : Or is it not?

 **Yachi-chan** : Did I read something wrong and you don’t like him?

 **Yachi-chan** : Is it actually bad now? And you will never forgive me? And I will stay the biggest failure of a friend someone could have?

 **Yama** : Wait, no! Everything’s alright, calm down!

 **Yama** : It’s only, I don’t know what to do. He flirts so much and makes me so insecure over it.

“Hey, did you just tell Yachi who is coming?” Kageyama accused him. Damn, he became more observative outside of the court over the time.  
“What? Not fair!”, whined Shoyou.  
“She has 99% on the test. And is already finished.”  
“And I like to be able to prepare everything. What if I would mess up and be a failure as a manager?”  
“Yachi-chan, you know you are the best manager we could wish for!” Shoyou’s bright smile let the blond calm down. He really had his way with people, charming everyone around him.  
“Ah, I wouldn’t say that.”  
“But he is right.” Kageyama only looked seriously at her.  
“Stop it, you are talking too much.” Her cheeks became slightly pink at all the compliments.  
“So, tell us who it is!”, said Shoyou.  
“No, she won’t. Now do your tests.”  
With a mumbled “fine” the two sank their heads again and started to write.

 **Cat Nerd** : I’m curious how much you have improved, Captain-kun~

 **Yama** : You will probably have all hands full with the two volleydorks~

 **Cat Nerd** : How mean, you think I wouldn’t give you my undivided attention?

“Who is ‘cat nerd’?”, asked Shoyou directly besides his ear, leaning over Tadashi’s shoulder and reading his texts.  
“The former setter from Nekoma?”  
“Bakageyama, Kenma doesn’t write like this!”  
Kageyama leaned over his other shoulder, speaking into his other ear. After the first few seconds of shock did not let him move at all, he dropped his phone, jumped back, and hit his head on a shelf. The other two just picked up his phone and continued looking at the chat as if nothing happened. Yachi-chan hurried by his side and made sure he did not hurt his head – he had to promise her that this won’t let his head fall off or something like that.  
“Go on his profile, maybe we know the picture!”  
“Boke, just be patient, I’m doing it!”  
“Hurry! Tadashi will fetch his phone every second!”  
“Oh, there is only a cat.”  
“Maybe he used his name in the chat!”  
“Wait, he wrote it to Yachi, didn’t he?”  
“Ah, yes, go to that chat!”  
“Kuroo?”  
“Crush?! Tadashi, you never told us about this!”  
When the two finally turned to him, the pain on the back of his head was finally getting less intense and he had convinced Yachi-chan to not call an ambulance.  
“First, give that back, now. Second, never ever go through someone’s phone without their permission again. Third, go back to your studies.”  
Luckily, Tadashi had learned a few things from Daichi and Ennoshita-san about how to handle this problem duo. They immediately obeyed him. Even though he was sure, they would not let go of this so easily.  
But he was surprised when nobody brought the topic up for the rest of the evening. His friends went home without asking him anything. Even if he got a look from Yachi-chan that said, “we are going to talk about this tomorrow”.  
Not so surprising should be the call he got from his best friend only 30 minutes later.  
“Why do the volleydorks keep bugging me about your love life?”  
“Hello to you to, Tsukki.”  
“No time for that, Kuroo won’t stay in the bathroom much longer and I don’t think you want him to hear this.”  
“Shoyou and Kageyama read a few of our messages and found out I had a crush on him.”  
“They seem to think you two are together. And that I’d have feelings for you and must be heartbroken. They are so annoying.”  
“I know you care for them deep down in your heart and that you are glad that they care so much about you.” Tadashi said teasingly.  
“Definitely not.”  
“Quit that, I know you too well.”  
“Tch.”  
Tadashi could hear another voice joining Tsukki in distance. “Tsukki, who is that?”  
“Tadashi.”  
“Oh, give me!”  
Then he could hear a few noises and the second voice spoke now into the phone.  
“Hey, my little puppy. Excited for tomorrow?”  
“Ah, hello Kuroo.”  
“Can’t wait to see you again.”  
Tsukki’s voice was audible in the background. “You saw him only yesterday.”  
“And? I still want to see Freckles-kun! As often as possible this week!”  
“Annoying…” With that, Tsukki’s voice seemed to go away from the phone.  
“So, Freckles-kun, what about our French fry date?”  
“D-date? I would not call it that…”  
“Then go out to eat with me and I’ll change your mind.”  
“Are you always that flirty?” Tadashi had to admit, Kuroo got him to open up more at the café. But the flirting made him still a bit uncomfortable. He was sure that the older did not mean it seriously. He was only Tadashi and Kuroo was Kuroo, he was easy to talk to, good looking and surely popular in college. He still knew nothing about that, not what the other was studying – other than that it did not involve chemistry – and where he was living, if he had roommates, about his friends, about his teachers. But why did Tadashi want to know so much? He surely would not admit his curiosity to himself though. Not when he did not have any chance from the beginning. Surely it was only because he used to have a crush on this guy.  
“With you, yes.” Did he still have this dumb unrequited crush? There was this feeling in his heart that tried to fight to the surface. The feeling of hope that Kuroo actually had an interest in him. But no, that was impossible.  
“You know, I’d rather go for the fries than for you?”  
“That’s all right. Soon you’ll prefer me.” After Tadashi stayed silent a little, fighting his feelings and thoughts, Kuroo continued. “So, how was your day?”  
“Alright, I guess. My friends came over to study, even though they did not behave so well.”  
“You mean Chibi-chan and your setter?”  
“How do you know?  
“They got my number from Kenma and sent me texts about how I should not interfere with yours and Tsukki’s relationship.”  
“They did WHAT? That’s it, the two of them won’t play at all in the games tomorrow.”  
“Others would get extra training.”  
“These two would enjoy the extra training!”  
“You got a point there. So, what else did these two do to get you so riled up?”  
“Let’s just say they disturbed my privacy a bit. And then only talked to you and Tsukki behind my back.”  
“Somehow I’m starting to get the feeling that my team was easier to handle.”  
“Wait until you meet the new first and second years. They are not better. Yachi-chan has her own protection squad now. Tanaka and Nishinoya trained them for it.”  
“That sounds like a thing they would do.”  
“And then there is this really timid first year. He is scared of almost everyone on the team. It took ages for Kageyama and him to work good together.”  
“That smile of his can be unsettling.”  
“And then there is someone who behaves more like a fanboy. He will probably ask for your autograph as well.”  
“Oh, it would be an honour.”  
“No, don’t let him get through with it. He asks every single team member from our opponents. Even in the worst situations!”  
“Like after you defeat them, and they are crying in the changing rooms?”  
“Exactly like that.”  
“Wait, really? That should only be a joke. Now I kind of pity you.”  
“No pity please. I’m slowly getting used to it. And there is one responsible second year who helps me out a lot.”  
“So, a future captain?”  
“Yes, the future captain.”  
“I’m looking forward to see the new Karasuno team now.”  
“Only because you fit well into a chaotic group.”  
“Hey, it is quite fun. And we should never forget how to have fun.”  
“Guess you are right there.”  
“Of course, I am.” Tadashi let out a snort at that.  
“Sure, Mr. Self-confidence.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day passed quite fast. At some point Tsukki made fun of him for being a little nervous. Even if he tried to not show it. But the blond knew him to well. Tadashi could not wait for afternoon practice to come. In fact, he powered himself out more than usual in morning practice. He could not help it, he felt motivated. Furthermore, that gave him a break from the complaining third year duo after he told them their penalty for their actions from the previous day and from their little fanboy, who normally had an excellent serve but missed every single one now that he was excited for their guest later.  
It felt like school passed in the blink of an eye and he stood inside their gym again.  
“Tadashi, this is not fair!” Shoyou walked beside him, complaining, since they stepped into the club room earlier.  
Kageyama was quick to catch up to them. “It really is not. This boke could learn a lot from Kuroo’s blocks and we could work on a strategy.”  
“No means no. You two have to learn from your actions. If you keep on complaining, I could send you home and not let you participate at all.”  
“He is right, you know.” Tadashi turned around in shock. There stood Kuroo in the door, leaning against it in a pose as if he was modelling. The thought of how hot he looked passed his mind, but Tadashi got rid of it quickly.  
“Kuroo-san! Oss, oss!”, greeted Shoyou.  
”Oss!”, said Kageyama as well.  
“Chibi-chan, Kageyama”, returned Kuroo. And with that, he came inside, rested one arm on Tadashi’s shoulder and murmured “Freckles-kun.” Over his excitement for the volleyball part of the practice, he completely forgot the part he had feared at first – Kuroo would make him a blushing, stuttering mess in front of his whole team. And it seemed like it took him less than a minute to accomplish this.  
Luckily, he was saved. “Kuroo Tetsurou! I can’t believe it! You were Nekoma’s captain two years ago, have an amazing block and back attack and made the legendary first battle of the garbage dump reality!”  
“That is the fanboy?”, Kuroo whispered in Tadashi’s ear.  
“Yeah. This is Fukui Kazuya.”  
“It is so nice to meet you! Can I have your autograph? Can you show me how to block? I can only play as a pinch server at the moment, but I want to learn so much more! Can I show you my serve?”

The training match was more fun than he could have imagined. Especially when he served. Over the last two years, Tadashi had perfected his jump floater and now he saw the results when Kuroo struggled to receive them. His positive attitude inspired his teammates further and even if they had a hard time to break through Kuroo’s and Tsukki’s blocks, they won the first set. Their victory did not last long, when their first year setter was getting used to setting to Kuroo, letting him hit a few back attacks. This combined with their different rotation, where their new libero Koizumi got the biggest field to receive Tadashi’s serves, lead to their loss in the second set.  
“Akiyama, come here for a moment”, whispered Tadashi in the break between the second and third set. “They did not play together for long and there is a repetition in their plays. Concentrate on Kuroo’s back attack as soon as he did not receive the ball. I think they are a bit unsure about setting him right after he received.”  
“Yes, I noticed it as well. And I think it would be good to concentrate your serves in between Koizumi and Kuroo-san.” Akiyama answered in a calm yet excited manner. He was a second year, really smart and a good middle blocker. Tadashi heard the others often teasing him that he would be the first member in a Tsukishima-fan club. At that thought he laughed a bit. That Tsukki would have someone admiring him that much was surprising for almost everyone. Even though Tadashi could definitely see why. In first year, it would have probably been himself, the first member of that fan club, at least according to Noya-san.  
They won the third set, and Tadashi complemented his teammates. It was a five-on-five, since one of their first years was on a sick leave and the chaotic third-year duo was banned to the side-line. They looked longingly at the game and pouted every time Tadashi served or looked their way.  
Now Kuroo came towards him.  
“Wow Freckles, your serves got even better!”  
“Thanks! I trained last year a bit with Atsumu-san in a training camp.”  
“Oh, I’d like to receive his serves one day.”  
“They are really strong.”  
“Oh, are you talking about Miya Atsumu-san? I wish I would have been able to go to the training camp last year!” The little fanboy appeared with big eyes at Kuroo’s other side, holding a pen and a notebook.  
Luckily, coach Ukai summoned them before he could say anything and announced they had to do a few exercises he worked out together with Kuroo. Tadashi wondered when the two of them worked that out but had no time to think about it since he was the first to demonstrate the team-exercises they did while Kuroo went from one person to the next for one-on-one practice with individual tips. First off, the black haired gave his teammates some advice for their blocks.  
When Kuroo came to Tadashi, he went behind him, really close and told him to lift his arms like he was blocking without a jump. Then he caught his hands in his own, moving them slightly to the front and putting his arms a bit closer together.  
“Like this there won’t be any possibility to get through the whole in between your hands”, he murmured in Tadashi’s ear. Stepping even closer, so that Tadashi could feel Kuroo’s chest slightly brushing against his back, he moved his hands a bit to the left and right. Tadashi felt like he could not breath. That was too close! What was that cat thinking?  
“And like this, you can block the spikes if they are coming slightly more to the side. Remember to look at your opponent’s face rather than the ball. His eyes and his posture will tell you in which direction he is going to hit.” Since when was Kuroo’s voice so deep? He could feel his heart going crazy. Slowly, he caught small breathes, trying to keep them flat enough that no one noticed.  
Then Kuroo held both his hands up with one of his and let his other one move to his waist. “No, try to bend here. You don’t only move your arms, then there won’t be any power behind the block.” The place where Kuroo touched him felt warm, warmer than his whole body that was heating up quite a bit. He was sure to be red again. Not only his cheeks, down his neck and at the tips of his ears as well.  
“Yes, like this. Perfect.”  
And as sudden as the other body pressed himself against Tadashi’s, it removed itself again and went on to the next player. Tadashi could not see the smirk on Kuroo’s lips as he looked at the red neck in front of him, finding the other just too cute in that moment.  
Next on, they trained receives. When it was time for Kuroo’s advice again – Tadashi could really imagine him becoming a volleyball coach someday – he observed how the older behaved around the others. He never came too near, only corrected the postures here and there. The only exception was Tsukki, and the blond male shoved him out of his personal space with an annoyed “don’t call me that”, only to have Kuroo lingering near him again in the blink of an eye. But even that was different. Everyone could see that Kuroo only tried to annoy Tsukki, and there were no murmurs or anything. But when he came to the captain, he placed himself behind the slightly smaller one just like before and corrected his arm posture, tipped the backside of his knee with his own to get him to bend that more, shifting his whole weight more to the front of the foot to remain more agile. The worst thing was that Tadashi was not able to do anything. He could not move on his own, could not breath correctly, could not push the older and tell him to quit that. He only stood there, this time with a bunch of snarky remarks in his head, since he was a bit prepared, but could not mutter a single word, until he was released again. But this overall sensation led him to remember every little detail that the older told him.  
They trained their serves and talked a bit more about the play earlier and what strategies would have been better. Their first year setter apologised a lot to Kuroo for not setting to him more and being too predictable, while their libero, the timid boy who was scared of everyone outside of the court and of Kageyama on the court, asked Tadashi to say sorry for their miscommunication as well. Kuroo only shook his head and said that this was normal for the first time playing together. Then, they got a bit of time for individual practise, where Shoyou and Kageyama trained their quick attacks and Tadashi went to receive them. He was glad to see that Kuroo was surrounded by their first and second years who were eager to learn more from him.  
Tsukki joined Tadashi and trained his blocking, tried to direct Shoyou’s attack in a certain direction, so that it was easier to receive and tried soft blocks on him. Soon, they were playing a small two-on-two. The team’s best attack versus the team’s best defence. 

Later, Kuroo stopped the captain on his way to the changing rooms. “Freckles-kun, Tsukki and I want to go to the cinema tomorrow.”  
“What?”, interfered Shoyou. “No!”  
“What?” That threw Kuroo completely off the track.  
“No, you are not. First you make Tsukki sad by flirting with Tadashi and then you go on a date with him to make Tadashi sad.”  
“Ah, Shoyou, that’s not…”  
But Shoyou did not listen to his captain. “These two are too dumb to get together, but they will eventually.”  
Tsukki snorted, the “This is getting interesting.”-snort. Then, he added, “Thank you so much for your help, Hinata.” Even though that was clearly sarcastic, Shoyou was always good at ignoring this tiny fact when he was being stubborn.  
“Tsukki! Don’t encourage him to go on with this.”  
“No, Tadashi, he is right. You two need my help. So, obviously Tadashi likes Tsukishima and Tsukishima likes Tadashi and Kuroo is interfering.”  
Shoyou finally went quiet when he heard Kuroo’s hyena-laugh, clutching his hands to his stomach. “Please, can I tell him?” He got out while catching his breath.  
Tsukki just shrugged. “I don’t care.”  
“My dear Chibi-chan.” Kuroo slung his arm around Shoyou’s shoulders. “Our Tsukki here…”  
“Don’t call me that.”  
“… is aromantic. He does not like anyone in that sense. And Tadashi is well aware of this fact. And”, with that he looked at Tadashi again, “I wanted to ask Freckles-kun if he wants to join us.”  
Wait, what? Cinema with Kuroo? The first image coming to his head was him crying over a scene and Kuroo just sitting there, an annoyed expression on his face like “how can someone be that emotional, please, he is such a cry-baby”. _Disgusting._ Since something like that happened in elementary school, he went there only when it was with Tsukki or his family. But to go with someone he grew to like a lot as his friend… That was probably a bad idea. If it happened all over again then Kuroo would just make fun of him as well.  
On the other hand, Tsukki knew about this fact and he knew that he would not go to any movie that could become too emotional with someone other than himself. He would still at least beg him to sit in the middle though, just to be careful.  
“Which movie?”, Tadashi asked.  
“How to train your dragon 3.” Oh, that was good. A family movie. Harmless.  
“Okay.” His voice was quiet, but it let this smug grin appear on Kuroo’s face again.  
“Wait”, interfered Shoyou, looking curious in Tsukki’s direction, “so you never liked anyone?”  
“Not in a romantic sense.”  
“You were never in love? But that is such a great feeling!”  
“Not in my opinion.” Tsukki’s face went from neutral to slightly annoyed.  
“But maybe that still comes in the future, don’t worry, Tsukishima-kun!” Now Shoyou did it. The slightly annoyed mood changed to a killer one.  
“Before you ask such unqualified questions, do a little research. You really think I need something that annoying? Where I cannot think rational, be happy for a bit and then get my heart broken? I really don’t understand how this is the main thing in society, why does everyone have that one goal of finding a person to spend some time of their life together? I rather prefer friendship, that will last forever.”  
“Tsukki”, Tadashi said in a soft, reassuring tone. Tsukki looked at him for a moment, then took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. Without another word he turned towards the exit of the gym and left a confused Shoyou behind.  
“But, was I wrong?” Shoyou’s voice was sad.  
“You need to be careful with such topics”, Tadashi tried to explain. “Not everyone likes to talk openly about it and sometimes just assuming things can hurt. You never know what the other person went through.”  
“Okay.” The smaller one sniffled a bit.  
“Hey, what if you just bring strawberry shortcake tomorrow as an apology?”  
“You mean that would make everything alright again?”  
“Sure! Tsukki loves shortcake!”  
“Hm, okay.”  
“Come on, Chibi-chan. Don’t pout like that”, Kuroo tried to help him. “You didn’t mean it and I’m sure Tsukki knows so as well.”  
“And if not, I’ll make sure to tell him later”, said Tadashi.  
That made Shoyou brighten up again and he went back to Kageyama to continue their training.

“Ta-da-shi.” Yachi-chan’s voice was quite intense. After the incident with Shoyou, he hurried to catch up to his best friend and check that he was okay, even though he noticed the looks from the smaller blond, telling him that he could not escape their talk. She seemed to spy on them the whole practice. If he was not mistaken, she even took notes on something not-volleyball-related. Now, he accepted the incoming call right after he got home.  
“Yachi-chan?”  
“Why did you not wait for me?”  
“Ah, I wanted to check on Tsukki. And then there is so much homework today…” He knew she could tell that he tried to postpone this. And he knew that it was impossible to escape her, but he could at least try, right?  
“I’m coming over.”  
“W-What?”  
“Actually, I’m already on my way. We can do the homework together. And I have some questions.”  
And before Tadashi could answer anything, the blond hung up on him. He sighed. In their first year, she was so shy and timid. Now, she still was scared relatively easy, but she got used to everyone’s height and learned how to control their wild bunch of volleyball players. That let an almost aggressive part of her personality show and everyone tried to avoid scaring her. Tadashi was sure that the weekends she spent with Tanaka and Noya while they trained her protection squad last year were the reason this happened.  
The doorbell rang only minutes later. The green haired prepared some snacks and drinks in the meantime and brought them to the desk in his room.  
Surprisingly, Yachi-chan did not confront him immediately. They began with their homework and she became a bit nervous, chewing on the end of her pencil. Then, suddenly, she banged her head on the desk.  
“Y-Yachi-chan?”, Tadashi asked worriedly.  
“I’m sorry Tadashi!” She did not lift her head. “I’m so sorry, you will hate me for what I’ve done and never talk to me again and then the team will notice and fire me and then there won’t be any other manager and they have to continue without one just because of me.”  
“A-ah, wait, that would never happen! Why should I hate you?”  
Now she lifted her head a bit, just to bang it on the desk again. “I- I took a photo!”  
“Huh?” The captain expected quite a bit, but not something like that. “A photo?”  
“During training! When Kuroo-san helped you!”  
She fished her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it with trembling fingers underneath the desk, tipped a bit on it and handed it over to Tadashi.  
He stared. There was nothing else he could do. It was from the second exercise, Kuroo directly behind him, his arms around him to align the smaller one’s arms that were stretched to the front. It looked a bit funny since their knees were bent, almost as if they sat on an invisible chair or something, and Tadashi’s face was bright red. Next to his ear was the older’s face, a smirk on his lips, almost touching. Did they really look like that earlier?  
Stars appeared in front of his eyes, he felt dizzy. Could he maybe just faint and forget this embarrassment?  
“See? You hate me now.” Yachi-chan interfered his thoughts that all concentrated on his will to faint and wake up in his bed and nothing was real.  
“N-No! I don’t! B-But this picture…”  
“Ah, you looked so cute together… Are you sure you don’t hate me?”  
“You are one of my best friends, how could I hate you?”  
After this, neither of them could think of homework anymore. Tadashi tried to convince the blond that his crush on Kuroo was over and that he only liked him as a friend, but Yachi-chan said that he got way to flustered around the black haired and that it was mutual interest on both sides. In the end, the green haired had to accept that his crush had reawakened. After that, he got a bit revenge when he teased his friend how her protection squad and their genius middle blocker had most definitely a thing for her. Finally, she stopped going on and on about how Kuroo most definitely had a thing for him, too. Even if it was nice to believe to have a requited crush, that would be too fast for him. They only texted for a short while and for most of the time they did not know who the other was. Additionally, he still knew nothing about the older’s college life. Nevertheless, in the end, he could not help but ask Yachi-chan for the photo. Later that night, he laid awake in bed, staring at the picture on his phone screen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was the worst. At the end of the movie tears were almost streaming down his face. Tadashi was always soft when it came to animals and such cute friendships. This movie was too much for him. But distantly he still knew where he was, at the cinema with his best friend and Kuroo. Luckily, Tsukki was the one sitting right next to him, so there was still a chance that he could escape to the bathroom before Kuroo saw him like this. Even if he just wanted to stay and process this ending a bit longer. But he stood up and without a glance towards the other two mixed into the crowd and let them push him out of the room, in the directions of the toilets. But before he could get there, two arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders and a familiar voice mumbled in his ear.  
“Freckles-kun, you don’t need to run away.”  
“Ahh, I was just… I just wanted to go to the toilet.” He whispered. That was another thing, Tadashi got caught in movies so easily that he felt weird afterwards. Like he slowly entered a different world for about two hours and got thrown back into the real one abruptly.  
“Are you embarrassed? You know, you are not the only one who cried at the end.”  
“Wait, you saw me?” His cheeks became slightly red. In some part of his head there was a distant memory that fought itself to the surface, about his old ‘friends’ and their teasing, but the older reacted clearly differently, didn’t he? These strong arms seemed to shield him away from his own negative thoughts.  
On the other hand, he got a bit curious how Kuroo looked like right now. But if he turned around now, the older would definitely notice that his tears were still not gone. Tadashi really could not remember the last time he got so worked up over a movie. Had that even happened before?  
But Kuroo interrupted his thoughts. He turned the younger one in his arms and pressed his face softly into his shoulders. As if to protect him from anyone else who might see this. After a few moments of standing stiff in his shock, he relaxed into the warm embrace.  
“Really, you two look like a couple who had a really bad fight and just solved it.” Tsukki’s voice startled Tadashi, but Kuroo held onto him so tight that he could not escape the older’s arms. “Both red eyed from crying and making such a scene here.”  
Tadashi felt one arm releasing him for a second, just so that another body was pressed against his. Kuroo just added Tsukki to the embrace as well.  
“Oh, come on. You cried as well”, said the oldest. “And you know, you won’t ever be third wheeling?”  
“That just got even more embarrassing. The people are already looking, Kuroo.” Tsukki tried to break out of the black hair’s arm. Thereupon, Tadashi just hugged the two of them back and left the blond no way to escape.  
“Tch.” That meant that Tsukki was acting annoyed but enjoyed it deep down. Maybe even so deep down that he never noticed it himself.  
“Mommy, what are these people doing?”, asked a voice in the background.  
“It is not polite to just point at people!”, answered a female one.  
“Oh, are they making the tears go away like you do for me, mommy?”  
“Seems like it.” Tadashi liked that mother. In earlier years, he was afraid acting out, expressing himself, drawing attention to him. Mostly of people guessing his sexuality when he did so, so every time when he discovered he had crushes on guys, he tried to hide it as good as possible. After his first experience, he never thought this could bring him happiness. In the end, nothing really happened after he met Tsukki. Later, with their team being so… present, they often drew the looks of the people surrounding them, but even when they did the strangest things – especially Tanaka and Noya-san with their protection squad – no one really cared so much. And if someone told a negative comment, they either ignored it or showed them how wrong they were.  
“Excuse me, mister?”, said the voice of the small boy again, this time he felt a hand tucking on his jeans, so he turned to the young boy. He seemed to be around the age of six.  
“Why are you crying? Did something bad happen?”  
The mother was hurrying after him and seemed like she wanted to apologize for the behaviour of her son.  
“No, everything is good. Thank you for asking. The movie had a very emotional ending, you know?” Tadashi smiled while kneeling to the small boy’s height.  
“Oh, I know this! Once I saw a movie with knights and a princess and it was really sad at the end.”  
“Really? What movie was it?”  
“I forgot the name.”  
“I’m sorry for my son, he just went to talk to you, I hope he did not disturb you”, said the mother.  
“No worries, he is really cute and polite.”  
“I’m not cute! I’m even strong enough to protect mom and one day I’ll be the best in Karate!”  
Now, Kuroo kneeled down next to Tadashi. “Oh, a strong Karate player? Are you going to go to a club in school?”  
“Yes! Then I’ll train every day.”  
“That’s a great motivation. Keep that up.”  
“Oss!”  
“Come on, Tetsuya, we have to go now.” The mother grabbed the little boy’s shoulder.  
“It was nice meeting you”, said Kuroo.  
“You too, Misters!”  
“Bye bye”, said Tadashi.  
“What a cute kid.” Kuroo smiled fondly.  
“You know, I could really imagine you training kids in volleyball.” It took Tadashi a few moments to realize what he just said. But before he could take it back, Kuroo already answered.  
“Hm, maybe. I really enjoy training people. But before that, there is something else I want to do.”  
“That almost sounds like you want to hide your volleyball obsession with a vague, mysterious sounding half sentence.” Tsukki had his typical teasing smile.  
“Come on, Tsukki! Let me play the cool guy in front of Freckles!”  
“Cool guy? You? You have zero self-awareness.”  
“Hey, that’s unfair! I’m actually quite popular in college.”  
“Maybe until you actually open up your mouth.”  
“No, there are plenty of girls who like me.”  
“Oh yes, the ones who try to get Oikawa’s number from you. I completely forgot.”  
“Oikawa? The old captain from Seijoh?”, interrupted Tadashi. Kuroo seemed relieved that he stopped the teasing comments from his best friend, Tsukki gave him an annoyed look. Probably because it was quite obvious that they still did not talk to each other about their personal lives. Tadashi just shot him a half annoyed “I know”- glance.  
“The two of them go to the same university and have some lectures together”, answered the blond.  
“Oh, are you playing volleyball together then?”  
“Ah, he is doing everything to be able to play professional and has a coach from Argentina and stuff, so he has no time, unfortunately.”  
“But these volleyball idiots actually found each other during a group project. Both nerdy, annoyingly smart and not even trying to be subtle about it and surely presidents of the gay community of their university.”  
That baffled the green haired. He never knew about his best friend knowing Oikawa so well. The only thing he knew about him was the basic knowledge all of the old Karasuno team members had. Monster serve, popular among the girls, apparently good looking, an amazing setter that had a knee injury and Kageyama’s middle school senpai.  
Since he fell silent after Tsukki’s comment, the black haired misinterpreted the reason for that. “Ah, even if he is pansexual and does not make a secret out of it anymore, we are only very good friends. He even has this person he has such a big crush on, and he never shuts up about them, so… It’s not like I’m flirting around with everyone or something.”  
Tadashi looked at him surprised. “Ah, no, I was just surprised Tsukki never mentioned him.”  
“I met him the last time I visited the rooster head over a weekend since they are flatmates. After that I needed a break and just could not talk about them. They were too annoying.”  
Oh right, Tadashi remembered the following week. “You only wanted to watch your dinosaur documentaries every day and even I could not really talk to you aside from your very invested comments about how you wished to have lived in their time.” He snickered. Tsukki had the weirdest ways to recharge his energy after an exhausting weekend or when all of his social life became too much, and he got exhausted from pretending too hard not to care about anything around him. Except for his best friend of course.  
“What? But we spoiled you rotten that whole weekend!”  
“He gets exhausted from playing his stoic attitude, since he doesn’t want anyone to know the softie that actually appreciates his friends underneath.”  
“Tadashi, shut up”, mumbled the tallest under his breath.  
“Sorry, Tsukki.” He knew that he did not sound sorry at all, but neither of them took offense in their unique way of interacting with one another.  


It wasn’t until he found himself in the bath later that evening that Tadashi realized that Kuroo was actually concerned about what the younger thought of him. He might be oblivious when it came to flirting and fast in overthinking it until he thought there was no possibility in other people being interested in him, but Kuroo really seemed to be interested. Genuinely. Tadashi could feel his face heat up and dived his head inside the water to shut the world out. It did not rescue him from his own thoughts though. Him and Kuroo. Was there a possibility that the both of them actually might come together? Did he even like Kuroo like that? It might be only his old crush on the older talking. That this might faint as he got to know the black haired further, only being a crush on the picture of the person build up in his head. But Tadashi knew that this was only his unconsciousness trying to deny his slowly, really slowly growing feelings. The voice he heard for so many years now, continuously repeating _disgusting_. Could he really allow himself to fall for the black haired?  
Maybe he should just stay here, under water, where he cannot hear anything and where all his thoughts are being washed away slowly. But he was not a fish, so he had to come out of the bathtub sooner or later. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Cat Nerd** : So, when can I take you out to our date?~

 **Yama** : Never

 **Yama** : Not anymore

 **Yama** : You are responsible for the sh*t my team is doing right now

 **Cat Nerd** : No! My puppy, I only stay until Friday morning, please let me take you ouuuut

 **Cat Nerd** : What are your teammates even doing? I swear I was not involved in anything!

 **Yama** : Without you, they wouldn’t call me a strawberry.

 **Cat Nerd** : Strawberry? Why that?

 **Yama** : Because! Argh, you don’t need to know…

 **Cat Nerd** : Wait! I think I heard Tsukki mumble strawberry after he saw something on Yacchan’s phone

 **Yama** : WHAT?!

 **Yama** : She showed him THAT? And Tsukki was the one starting that nickname?

 **Cat Nerd** : Showed him what exactly? But no, she wasn’t there at the moment, her phone rang, and Tsukishima wanted to give it to her and saw something there (that he didn’t want to show me *frown* )

 **Cat Nerd** : But what is “that”?~

 **Yama** : Ah, nothing you need to know~

 **Cat Nerd** : Hmm, okay, I’m letting that go for now. But only for the sake of our French fry date

 **Yama** : Wait, if you go back on Friday, then there is only today or tomorrow left?

 **Cat Nerd** : Yes :(

 **Cat Nerd** : But then you can come and visit me the next time~

 **Cat Nerd** : Actually, I promised Tsukki to help them with a level in a horror game this evening cause Kenma showed me how to do it before, so there’s only tomorrow left

 **Yama** : Tomorrow sounds fine!

 **Cat Nerd** : Wow, and the comment about you coming to Tokyo is just ignored…

 **Cat Nerd** : You hurt me little puppy!

 **Yama** : Ahh sorry~ Let’s talk about that tomorrow?

 **Cat Nerd** : Yes! Sure! Looking forward to it!

 **Cat Nerd** : Oh yeah, can you take care of the plan for that? I’m still quite new to Miyagi

 **Yama** : No problem~

Tadashi felt like screaming into his pillow in excitement. A few minutes earlier, he was still angry about his friend’s not so subtle “strawberry”-murmurs behind his back, but now he almost completely forgot about that. Kuroo invited him! To Tokyo! He only visited the city once with his family, and most of his memories of that is simply his teenage rage that he felt in those years. Sometimes the green haired felt sorry for his dad thinking back to all the fights they had.  
Another message shortly before he could actually grab his pillow brought back a few of the earlier feelings and dampened the excitement a little.

 **Tsukki** : Did you know that the feeling of love is actually caused by stress? These butterflies are signals of the stomach that was working moments prior when it was in a relaxed state and then the stress caused by a message or something of the loved person gets us into a stressed state and cuts the blood supply short and the stomach can’t work that well anymore.

 **Yama** : Very interesting, Tsukishima.

 **Tsukki** : Tadashi? Is everything alright?

 **Tsukki** : I didn’t mean that in an offensive way. I just thought it might be interesting.

 **Yama** : That’s not it

 **Yama** : You remember that strawberry thing? Someone was generous enough to tell me that you started it!

 **Tsukki** : It was not intentional.

 **Yama** : Still! Without you stalking through Yachi-chan’s phone, no one would call me a strawberry now!

 **Tsukki** : You just looked exactly like a strawberry.

 **Yama** : Tsukki!

 **Tsukki** : Good.

 **Yama** : Huh?

 **Tsukki** : You called me Tsukki again.

 **Yama** : Argh, no!

 **Tsukki** : Anyway, did you see the photo Yachi took?

 **Yama** : Yes, she showed me… It’s so embarrassing! 

**Tsukki** : Yeah, it kind of is. You two should just go out already.

 **Yama** : No, I mean, we don’t know each other well enough yet…

 **Tsukki** : So, you accepted your feelings? 

**Yama** : Yes, thanks to Yachi-chan. 

**Tsukki** : Good. I hope you are not one of those who speak of their crushes nonstop?

 **Yama** : Oh, but there are a few things I could talk about~ Like how great he looks~

 **Tsukki** : Please don’t. Not Kuroo. Anyone else but not about him.

 **Yama** : That’s for calling me a strawberry!

 **Yama** : You know, I kinda like how he gets my humour~

_This user blocked you. You are not able to send messages anymore._

Tadashi figured that Tsukki might react like that. Normally, the average timespan he got through without sending him texts was about an hour, maybe over night. But he was the one the blond could direct all the snarky comments that passed his mind over the day. Since the younger had good remarks himself and shared most of Tsukki’s thoughts, he was the perfect ventil to not be too hated by the people around him. Moreover, some of their conversations were too good to just not be happening.  
This time it only took a few moments. Thanks to Kuroo.

 **Tsukki** : This rooster head is way worse than you could be.

 **Yama** : Aww, thank you Tsukki~

 **Yama** : Should I try to take the challenge? *smirk*

 **Tsukki** : No, don’t. And you chat too much, you even take his non-smiley habits.

 **Yama** : Ahh really! I didn’t notice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tadashi felt like he had to throw up. His heart beat too hard, he was so nervous. The day passed way too fast and now he stood in front of the burger place where he wanted to meet up with Kuroo. Without Yachi-chan, who came over just to kick him out of his own place, he would have probably just stayed in bed. This was the first time he went on a date. Even though he never confirmed that he thought of it as one. He had a bit of experience in kissing and stuff, but that was nothing serious. He was at a volleyball camp and felt a bit lonely, the other person just got rejected and they searched comfort in each other. But they never went on a date.  
“Freckles! Sorry, did you wait long?”  
Why did the older have to appear when he thought about cuddling, and when he noticed that his mind could not really think of the other person’s face, and could only offered Kuroo as the counterpart? His heart beat even faster, and he had to swallow a few times to make sure his stomach was okay. Maybe Tsukki was right and love was only pure stress. It felt like that right at that moment.  
“Ah, no, I just c-came here, too.” Tadashi cursed his slight stuttering, while muttering the standard reply. Actually, thanks to Yachi-chan, he had been about half an hour early.  
“Hey, relax, I thought I was at the snarky remark stage already?” Kuroo looked at him curiously, wanting to make sure that the other was alright.  
“S-Sorry.”  
“Come on, let’s sit down inside.”  
And so they did. At their seats, the younger finally looked at Kuroo and he was dressed really nicely. Even a bit overdressed for the simple burger place. But his hair was weird. It was, as if he had used a few bottles of hair gel to hold it in place but then decided against it and tried and failed to wash it out. He chuckled. When the older noticed where he looked, he went a bit red and smiled sheepishly.  
“I kind of tried to fight my bedhead. And it didn’t really work.”  
“I can tell. How much hair products did you use for that?”  
“It wasn’t even that much.”  
Tadashi could not help it but to stretch out his hand and ruffle through the black hair. It even felt weird. There was more gel in it than he had ever used in his entire life. And that had been quite a bit when he tried to get rid of his antenna last year. Which simply did not work.  
“Hey, it was so much work to get it so nicely.”  
“It looks very nice normally, but that is way too much gel.”  
“But I even got rid of at least half of it afterwards.” Kuroo only mumbled in protest and looked to the side. At this moment, he reminded the younger more of a dog than a cat. On a second thought, a cat that gave in to its desire to be petted without throwing a tantrum or having second thoughts.  
As Tadashi continued to crawl his head through all that hair gel mess, he even seemed to be almost purring in delight. That got him so mesmerized that he forgot where they were. In a public place, sitting at a table where everyone can see them, and they were not even in that kind of relationship that they could behave like this.  
“You really are a cat”, mumbled Tadashi.  
“Hm?” Kuroo seemed to be unable to think. That got the shorter male to snap out of it and retrieve his hand.  
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to…”  
“No, no, don’t worry.” Kuroo actually looked as flustered as Tadashi felt. Thanks to that it was a bit weird at first. Normally, the older was so confident, always leading the conversation, but he was at a loss of words. Thankfully, when their food arrived a few minutes after ordering, it somehow broke the tension. It felt like they did not _have_ to talk about anything, what made it easier to do so.  
“I wanted to ask you this for a while now. What are you studying?”  
“Business administration with a minor in sports. I hope to somehow get a volleyball related job, maybe sports promotion or something similar.”  
“That sounds really cool. Is studying hard?”  
“Actually, it’s way more relaxed than school life. Once the pressure is gone to get into a good university, it gets much easier.”  
“Oh, yeah. Akiteru talked about something similar.”  
“Tsukki’s older brother?”  
“Hey, don’t call him that.”  
“Sorry, I didn’t want to offend my puppy.”  
“You really are a sly cat.”  
“You think so?”  
“Definitely!”  
“Nyaa~” Somehow, the taller always got to get the conversation into such a direction. The look he shot in the direction of the green haired was definitely flirtatious and Tadashi feared if that might be going any longer, he might turn into a strawberry once again.  
“Ah! Another thing! Eh, y-you go to a university in Tokyo, right? A-and live on your own? How is that?”  
“It’s great. I honestly couldn’t imagine moving back in with my parents now. The only thing I really miss is the food. But you get used to it so fast! And Tooru-kun is a funny guy.”  
“Tooru-kun?”  
“That’s Oikawa’s first name. We discovered to have a lot in common. But he is so messy, he never cleans the kitchen after using it! And he always complains about me never cleaning the bathroom when he clearly is not any better. And then he talks so much about that person he likes – oh, I’d rather leave it to him to tell you who it is, since it’s not my place to tell. But I have to admit, it is easy to have discussions about almost anything, politics, sports, or science. He is almost as smart as me, and we often have different approaches to a topic. So, every other evening we just sit on the couch with a bit of alcohol and discuss about almost everything. It’s really fun. When you come to visit, you’ll see for yourself.”  
“When?” When did the ‘if’ turn into a ‘when’?  
“Hm, how about your next holidays? Then you could directly stay for a whole week. Since the train is quite expensive, you should at least spend more time at my place than on the train.”  
“Oh, eh, okay.” And like that, Kuroo somehow just decided that Tadashi will visit him. Somehow, he was a bit relieved by it since he was not the best in decision making outside of his volleyball team because he just stayed at Tsukki’s side for so long and went with everything the other wanted. He never really learned how to ask to come over or invite himself when his friends around him made plans to hangout.  
“It will suck to not see you in a while.” Kuroo reached out and lay his hand on top of Tadashi’s. “We have to call each other often, okay? I want to see you.” The earnestness behind his words was clear, it made Tadashi’s heart skip a beat. Maybe even a few beats.  
He simply nodded, feeling like he could not move a muscle. Was that really happening?  
The voice to be careful in the back of his head was almost completely gone, the memory of why he spent years of not trusting other people fading. Kuroo Tetsurou was different from others. Especially from the ones that called him _disgusting_ so many years ago. Maybe it was okay to fall deeper for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so sorry that this comes so late! The story grew bigger and bigger, then the new semester started and I was really busy and could not write too much. But I don't want to give too many excuses. The chapter got so long that I decided to split it in half and be able to update faster. It is just too easy to write about this pair.  
> About the new Karasuno team, it is kind of hard to just have so many original characters, especially since I am really bad at giving names. And since it is quite a lot to take in, I will post an overview on my new Twitter account (@ZenaySarah) for everyone who is interested!
> 
> Then a bit about things I wrote, since so much happened and I just have to add a few comments on my thoughts, hehe. First of all, How to train your dragon 3. I watched this movie several times around the time I wrote the passage and had to cry so much and just had to deal with it somehow. Like this, the whole movie date thing happened, so maybe it's not too bad that I can be quite emotional when it comes to films.  
> Then about the names, I tried to have some parallels on how the now third years are referred to (sur- or given name) and how Daichi, Suga, Asahi and Kiyoko were called. And I only then learned that Kiyoko is actually her given name, I feel so dump for not knowing that all those years!
> 
> Back to the main pair, I kind of like to explore a relationship where they have to overcome some hindrance to get together even though they pretty much know (at least from now on) that their feelings are mutual. So it will take them probably about another 10000 words to finally get there~
> 
> Oh yeah, I hope the chapter does not contain too many mistakes. I could not wait to upload when I wrote the last part and did not proof read it as thoroughly as usual.
> 
> Finally, thank you all so much for your support! Every time I see such lovely comments, it helps me so much to motivate myself and just continue writing! And I'd never dreamed of getting over 36 kudos on a rare-pair fic. Thank you sooooo much!!! ^////^


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